On Animal Intelligence
There are those in our wide and wonderful world who hold that humans are unlike all the other animals. They often make arguments like, "we have language and they don't," or "our brains are bigger," or "we can reason and they can't." Well here's what I have to say on the issue:
Whales have larger brains than humans. I'm sure other animals do too, I just can't think of any off the top of my head. Maybe elephants. Wouldn't surprise me.
Orca's have the most complex brains on the planet (to my knowledge) and their brains are not only larger than ours, they contain more synapses per unit area.
The only reason other animals don't officially have "language" is that we use an anthropomorphic definition of the word that excludes them. Sure most animals don't have syntax in their communications like we do, but no one can deny that animals can communicate both within their species and even with other species. Ground squirrels and marmots heed each other's warning calls. Cuttlefish respond to human finger gestures. Primates can learn sign language. Alex the parrot even learned human spoken language and proved he could reason and talk about abstract concepts.
Speaking of reasoning, dog's have been shown to do disjunctive syllogisms. Raven's can solve puzzles. Sea lions can learn the difference between letters and numbers.
I mean honestly, where would humans have gotten the ability to reason if there wasn't some evolutionary basis for it? The bottom line is that humans are just another animal like any other. Every living thing on this planet has a lot of the same core abilities in common, heck, we share half our genes with a potato. Animals differ in their size, shape, and refinement of ability but there is nothing fundamentally different about humans or any other species.
*steps down from soap box and marches off into the sunset*
